Scintillation Model
by pyr0technic
Summary: "We're going to make this work, Misty. You're the contestant, and you're pretty, you've got this. You've got your best friend, Brock, as your coach. But most importantly, Ash is the judge, and he is our key to victory." — Pokeshipping (other minor shippings) [[ON HIATUS - currently being REWRITTEN]
1. Chapter 1

_1: When I figure out that I'm going to be in a beauty pageant. _

* * *

"To be fair, they did _tell _you that they were going to enter you."

A petite girl with glossy dark blue hair had her hands wrapped around an expensive coffee mug smirked as she said this, awaiting her friend's response to this.

"But that's the whole thing! They _didn't _tell me that they were going to enter me! Do you even listen when I tell you these things?" The said friend exasperatedly pulled the brim of her cap lower over her fire-orange hair, sinking deeper into her chair.

"Oh, come on, Misty. You will be fine. You're totally overreacting," a chestnut-haired girl assured, mockingly patting Misty's cap-sporting hair. "Speaking of which, did you get this cap from Ash?"

Misty glared at the girl, before pushing her hand off of her head. "Yes, but before you say anything, I forcibly took this from him because of an earlier argument, _May._"

She could predict what was coming next, so Misty spoke up again, "I'm not even, like, that pretty or anything. You know I'm nothing compared to my sisters!"

"You know, you really do sell yourself short. You would be much more better-looking if you just acted like it, you know. Don't you agree, Dawn?" May nodded her head towards the said girl.

Dawn nodded her head immediately. "You need to be more confident in how you look. You're already pretty, trust me. I wouldn't lie about that," she said, sitting her coffee mug down. She unbuttoned her coat and revealed a form-hugging pink top, and earned at least three stares just by that, Misty swore.

"Nice to know you would let me know if I was ugly," Misty said with a scoff, sending a small glare to her friend. "_You're _the fashionable, pretty one. Why don't you enter?"

Dawn almost frowned, but quickly recovered with an ironic smile. "Psh, I mean, I guess I would, but no one wants me to."

Immediately, Misty's eyes widened. "Well I know someone who wants you to."

"Haha, very funny, Misty, but for the thousandth time, Paul does not like me. I don't know why you all keep insisting he does." She rolled her eyes, clearly irritated and checked her watch.

"I never even said his name, Dawn. Might be getting a bit ahead of yourself there," Misty teased. She artfully dodged the kick she knew was coming and continued, "What I meant is, I want you to join."

Dawn put her head in her hands, and then slowly peeked out within wisps of her straightened hair. "You're forcing me aren't, you?"

"Pretty much!" Misty answered. "And, uh, May?"

May slowly turned around, caught from slowly exiting the coffee shop by herself.

"You're in on this too."

"God dammit."

-.-

Now that the matter of the contestants was out of the way, there were, of course the judges.

"Hold on, hold on. Let me get this straight. You want, _me, _to be...a _judge._"

Ash Ketchum stood in front of the three fabulous sisters of Misty. Misty, his best _friend, _Misty. That Misty.

"Indeed, we do!" Daisy cheered, bringing a hand down to tousle the young boy's hair. "By the way, you didn't give that silly hat of yours to Misty, did you?"

Ash scowled a bit. "What's it to you?"

Violet's face lit up next to Daisy, but Ash was smart enough and knew what was going to come out of her mouth, so he interrupted with, "Anyway, as I was saying, what good would I do as a judge? I don't want to judge girls based on how they look. They'll get all mad at each other and kill me."

"Don't worry about it, they won't kill you. It's just a matter of opinion, honestly," Daisy retorted, with Violet winking at her.

"Did you just...?" Ash stared.

"Just what?"

"Just wink."

"No!"

"Yeah, you did."

"Don't know what you're talking about."

"Nuh uh."

"Getting off track here!" Lily interrupted with an eye roll. "Listen up Ash, you've finally taken a break from training, so you have no excuse whatsoever. This is the least you could do."

All three of them glared his way.

Ash stood his ground for about three seconds before crying, "Alright, alright! I'll do it!"

High fives were given all around except for one poor little boy wondering just what he was in for.

A lot, apparently.

-.-

Brock sighed. There were several things that he didn't mind doing. Especially if those things involved beauty pageants. (Just think of all the possiblities...) However, when the equation included a fiery-headed girl named Misty into it, he minded.

He knocked on the door to the Ketchum household and greeted an enthusiastic Mr. Mime as he made his way in.

"Mime! Mime, mime?"

Brock looked up. "Nah, I'm good. Thanks, though. You know where Misty is?"

"Mime!" he pointed upstairs.

Brock flashed him a thumbs up and made his way quietly up the stairs, meticulously dodging the areas he knew would creak. He hated creaks. He heaved another sigh at the thought he wasted so much time here he had memorized the area with creaks on the staircase.

He slowly came up to the door to the room with the bunk beds in which the three slept in whenever they came over to Pallet Town, but his hand stopped midway in opening the door. He peered in through the creek and found Misty, however in an interesting situation.

They had been sitting on the couch together, and Ash had conveniently fallen asleep on her shoulder and vice versa.

Oh, god.

Brock mentally excused himself and fangirled for about seven point five seconds before snapping back to reality and forcing himself back into his manly, tough, exterior state.

He slowly walked in and tapped the redhead on the shoulder, who in response squinted and stretched, peering at Brock. "What do you want?"

He simply coughed, waiting for it to sink in.

She furrowed her eyebrows, then slowly widened her eyes as she became fully aware of the current situation. "Say a word about this and you die," came he silent hissed threat Brock was waiting for.

Suddenly Ash stirred in his sleep and awoke, stretching and yawning. "Oh, hey, Brock? What's up?"

Brock and Misty stared at him.

"What?" he questioned.

They stared at him some more, then shook their heads, murmuring, "idiot."

"Well, don't tell me then!" Ash muttered in disbelief, apparently offended by the way his friends were acting towards him.

"Anyway..." Brock pulled up a chair to the teens and sat, giving them a long stare.

"You know, there's room on the couch," Misty brought up.

"Wouldn't want to...interrupt you two." He shot them two pistols and wink.

Ash rolled his eyes, while Misty said in a raspy voice, "I am so done with the jokes. Get to it, already."

"So, guess what? I'm your coach!"

"My what?"

"Your coach. For the beauty pageant. Of course, I'm assuming they told you?"

"Ugh, they told me, alright." Misty ran hand through her hair in exasperation.

"Whoa, whoa, wait, you're going to be in that?" Ash suddenly jumped, this news effectively jostling him.

"Yes...do you have a problem?" Misty asked.

"No, it's just that...um, I'm going to be a judge..."

"What?" Brock and Misty simultaneously spluttered.

"Look, your sisters...they made me...I didn't want to, but-"

"Okay, okay, listen here, Misty. The show is in exactly one week. We need you in tip top shape by then. I'm your coach, and Giselle should be heading over here now any second, she's your stylist-" Brock began explaining.

"_Giselle _is my _stylist_? Why the hell doesn't anyone ever tell me things anymore!"

"I'm here!" the said girl serenaded into the room with her perfectly curled chestnut locks and plopped down next to the gang, grinning widely.

"I am going to make you look _so _great."

"Nice to know that I don't look great as I naturally am!" Misty retorted in annoyance, feeling increasingly anxious over the entire ordeal.

"Don't be silly, you are pretty. At least, it's obvious that Ash thinks that."

"Giselle, I will cut you."

"Anyway, don't worry about the wardrobe at all, I think I know exactly what designs I have planned out! This is going to be sooo fun," she giggled with glee with her hands clasped together. "At the end, you almost might look as fabulous as me?"

Misty facepalmed before sighing, "Can this be done now?"

And Ash, never missing the opportunity to aggravate Misty said, "I'll be watching you."

After giving him a good kick in the shin, she turned to Giselle and said, "Fine, fine, fine. Don't put me in anything slutty or again, I will cut you."

"Oh, don't worry about that. No one wants to see that, anyway."

"Ouch," Brock muttered, turning away to laugh.

"You're funny," Misty sneered before pulling apart a curl in Giselle's hair before leaving, ignoring the indignant, "Hey!"

"Who came up with the stupid idea of a beauty pageant, anyway?"

-.-

"Everything going according to plan, Daisy?"

"Like, of course, Violet. We've got our judges, contestants, and stylist, all ready to go. Now we just need Lily's part."

"Like, you mean, me? This isn't going to be, like, easy. We kind of have a problem."

"Gary Oak wants to be a judge."

* * *

Does this fic make no sense whatsoever! Good! That's what I was aiming for! Uh, review if you want...this sucks...bye. I might continue with it if it gets some positive feedback.


	2. Chapter 2

_2: When I figure out that I have to wear the bathing suit._

* * *

"Hey, Gary! Did you hear?" Ash burst into Professor Oak's lab, searching for the brown-haired boy as he barreled down the hallway, opening and closing doors rapidly. Eventually he stopped for a breath, realizing he was nowhere to be found.

"Huh. Where did he go? Could've sworn he said he was going to be here today..." Ash took off his cap and whirled around, bumping face to face into...Drew?

"Drew? Of all people, of all places?" Ash threw his hands up, completely flabbergasted.

The coordinator flipped his hair and offered him a small smirk. "Hey, you know May and I are friends, I dropped by for a visit, and guess who got assigned as a coach for the beauty pageant?"

Ash froze. This was way too much information to take in for the already small-minded boy. "Wait, who exactly are you...coaching?"

"Well, May, of course. Ironically enough, Harley's gonna be her stylist. Can't wait to see how this will go."

"May's competing?"

"Well, yeah."

"Fantastic," Ash muttered, sinking into the couch behind him, head held in his hands.

"What's your problem?" he questioned, twiddling the rose in his shirt pocket.

"I'm a judge! How am I supposed to pick between two people I'm good friends with!"

Drew froze for a second, and then burst out with an almost cackling laugh. "You? A judge? You're kidding, right?"

Ash shot him a glare. "Why does everyone keep saying that?"

After wiping away a fake tear, ("Too far," Ash thought) he muttered, "You'll never understand, man. Anyways, I'm pretty sure they'll understand if they're good friends like you say they are. Later, I'm trying to find Gary."

"You know where Gary is?"

"Well, yeah. He wants to be a judge apparently, so he's marched off to the ladies in charge."

Drew took one look at Ash's face and went into another round of uncontrollable laughter.

"We need to go see Misty. She has to hear this," Drew grinned darkly.

-.-

"Giselle, are you sure you even want to help out that girl?"

"Please, Ricky. I'm positive. I was meant for this."

The said boy made a face as he held the cellphone in his hand, talking to the girl from his own hometown. "Do you mind if I come and help you out? It's as boring as ever with Mum and Dad. You know how it is."

"Don't you mean, 'Do you mind if I come hit on the guys?'" she laughed.

"Shut, up. Honestly. I'll be over the next day, or perhaps late evening tonight. Hopefully you can introduce me to these friends of yours in...Pallet Town." What kind of name was that, anyway? Ricky would never understand.

"Sure thing."

"And I'll try not to interfere too much. I know you don't like that," Ricky snickered a bit.

"You're practically the star wherever you go. Don't worry, I have the feeling you'll cause quite the bit of commotion."

"See you there!"

The line went dead, and Giselle obliviously continued grooming Misty's hair, unknowing of the consequences of inviting the said mysterious boy.

-.-

"Misty, you walk like a man."

Misty resisted the impulse to sock him in the gut and bit on her lip really hard as she heard a snicker from May's brother, Max in the background. He had adopted the title of "mini-judge." Unofficial, but cute.

Max tilted her shoulders back while Giselle straightened her back, somewhat helpful to her current walking style.

Brock sighed. "I have a feeling that's as girly as Misty's going to go."

"No, Brock. You're going too easy on her. This girl has what it takes, you know. She just needs some time alone with me." Giselle chuckled darkly, slightly frightening everyone in a one mile radius around her.

"I'm not really even that bad!" Misty defended, throwing her arms up in the air.

"Hate to break it to you, but you really are that bad, Misty," Brock brought up, flipping a page in the magazine he was studying.

"You were only watching half the time."

"Hey now, I'm currently studying for your wardrobe."

"Studying?" Misty gave him a disbelieving look.

Max looked over his shoulder. "And by 'studying,' he means he's covering the swimsuit section," said Max.

"Gross!" Misty grabbed the magazine from him. "It's not like I'm gonna wear one of these slutty things on stage, anyhow."

They all looked at her strangely.

Misty paused. "Why are you all giving me that look?"

"Okay, anyway! Put your heels back on, Misty. You're never going to learn how to walk in those things if you don't practice." Giselle tossed the deathly shoes to Misty.

"But I've been going for an hour straight! I'm gonna die!" Misty wailed, pushing the shoes away from her.

"Five minute break."

"Fifteen minutes?"

"Ten minutes and done."

Misty flopped back onto the couch of the makeshift model pathway which had been derived from the Ketchum living room, to the courtesy of Delia.

"This is a ton of work. I would rather be fat and happy than fit and stressed out," Misty relented, sinking deeper into the cushion.

Brock made a face. "I prefer the latter."

"Alright, let's get back to work!" Giselle said, picking up her keyboard and pencil.

"That was literally two minutes. I've been counting."

"We have stuff to do, Misty! One week is very little time to prepare someone like you into a model!"

"Gee, thanks."

Before much else could be said on the matter, Ash entered the room along with Drew, which turned out to be a surprise to everyone.

Ash didn't say a word, and simply stood there.

They all turned to Drew for explanation.

"Oh! Gary's gonna be a judge."

Misty almost choked on her own spit before replying, "What?"

"Yep, that's right. He wanted to be one. So I guess uh, him and Ash are both judging. Yep. This should be quite interesting," he finished, smirking as he twirled the rose ever so fresh in his pocket.

"I think I give up on understanding what's even going on, anymore," Ash muttered, taking a seat by the flabbergasted redhead. "I'm going to assume things haven't been going well for you."

"Don't even start, Ash," she retorted with a hand covering his face.

He licked it, much to her dismay. "You're disgusting."

"Hey now, let's keep the flirting for later when we all aren't here to watch it," Drew muttered, rolling his eyes at the duo.

Ignoring all indignant denial from them, he checked his currently beeping cellphone, reading a message he had just gotten.

"Oh. Dear. God. Someone help me. I think I need life support." Drew's eyes widened and he backed up against the wall.

"The girl who wins the pageant gets to go on a date with, quote, the hottest 'man-candy' in town." At this point it looked like he was holding back tears.

"Who?" The room went dead silent.

"Paul."

Then, all hell broke loose.

-.-

After hell had seemed to settle down a bit, coherent questions began to be asked.

"When did he even get here?"

"Conveniently flew over to Kanto just a few days ago, apparently. Had some 'business,'" Drew answered.

Ash simply shook his head. "I'm done trying to understand, I'm not going to ask anymore." He calmly left the room before shrugging on a jacket. "I am going for a walk."

Misty stared in awe after him. "I need to start taking his advice."

Brock mimicked the look Misty had given Ash, initiating several giggles from the group.

"Anyway," Misty said under gritted teeth, effectively silencing everyone, "We should probably resume our jobs, since you know, the pageant is in less than a week! Come on, Brock, you're my coach! Coach me!"

He stood up, suddenly very aware of his job. "Yes, m'am!"

"And Drew! What are you even doing here? You are May's coach! Go coach her!" Drew nodded and left immediately.

"Max! Go see what everyone's doing!" Another affirmative.

"Giselle and Brock, I want my walk perfected within another hour!"

And that was exactly how they all pulled their shit together that night.

Misty was their friend for a reason, after all.

-.-

By this time, Ash had been walking throughout the fields behind the lab when he found Dawn, apparently practicing posture. Silly, he thought, she already had perfect posture. He found that Barry was her coach (he had come into town wih her) and Zoey was her stylist.

He thought of something.

"Hey, Dawn, I just wanted to let you know that you should take this contest more seriously."

"And why is that?" she asked while Barry straightened her shoulders.

"Paul's the prize."

"Wait, hold on, what?"

Ash only smirked, enjoying the wonderful feeling of knowing something someone else didn't. It wasn't something he felt very often. "I meant what I said."

"The prize? As in like...a date?"

"Exactly."

"Well, psh, I don't know why you're telling me I honestly don't care he's kind of a jerk so whatever." And with the run-on sentence, Dawn continued her balanced walk across their makeshift platform and pretended to be concentrating on gulping down her water bottle while Ash left.

"Zoey, if I don't win this I'm going to stab someone. There's no way anyone else can win this."

"Ooooh, fiesty Dawn is protecting her Paul!" Barry joked, poking her cheek.

"Um, no, I know Paul and we're friends, and I don't want him to suffer going out with a girl he doesn't even like."

"So you're saying he likes you?"

"No! I'm just...never mind! Forget it!"

Barry and Zoey exchanged knowing looks before passing the blue-headed girl a towel, who was profusely sweating for some reason.

-.-

It was late evening and May had been balancing three books on her head for nearly twenty minutes, a perfect record. She grinned in delight and set the books down, displaying herself in a little, "Ta-da!"

"Oh, yes, bravo, May," Drew ironically clapped.

"You had me working the entire day on that," May groaned, kicking him in the side.

"Alright fine, you did good, Maple," he gave in, rolling his eyes and patting her on the head.

"I say you did fabulous!" Harley strode in the room with a plate of freshly baked cookies, making the brunette beside him drool.

She reached for one, but he quickly whisked them away. "Oh, no...these are for me, hun. Your snack tray is over there."

She ignored Drew's snickering as he bit into a cookie and looked beside her, where there was a tray full of celery and carrot sticks. "You're joking."

"I may be your stylist, May, but I know how to treat a girl about to enter a beauty pageant. We need your abs to be steel. Cookies do not contribute to abs of steel," he explained, while Drew nodded in mock approval, trying his best not to laugh again.

"Well, hello there!" Gary strode into the lab, taking a seat behind the verdigris-haired boy. "I see you're doing well with your coaching!" Gary elbowed him playfully.

"Very funny coming from the one who begged to be a judge for a stupid beauty pageant."

"Hey now, I just think it would be interesting. If Ashy-boy gets to be a judge, then I should too."

"Whatever you say, man. I just think you're hiding your closet pervert self. Being the judge and all, you get to stare at all the bikini babes on stage."

Gary only laughed before saying, "Trust me, that will be the least of your worries. The Waterflowers' have so much more in mind."

"Don't I know it," Harley commented, mid-chew on the cookies.

"Whoa, hold on. Bikini babes?" May froze on her celery stick and turned to them.

"Um yeah, you have to model in a swimsuit at one point. You didn't know?" Gary questioned innocently.

She cursed loudly before realizing something in terror once more.

"What's going to happen when Misty finds out?"

* * *

Okay the plotline is really disorganized right now and I'm sorry bluhhh this really kinda sucked, but the review count was high and I didn't want to disappoint you guys by making you wait too long. Hope you enjoyed this...a little?


	3. Chapter 3

_3: When I find out Ash is getting bribed._

* * *

Misty had had quite the choleric reaction to the news that had eventually reached her ears. Her team had tried to soothe her to no avail for the past few hours, until her ever so loyal coach finally snapped her out of it.

"What is the big deal about this, anyway, Misty? In fact, one might even say... that you're embarrassed." Brock threw a dubious glance her way, the smallest of smirks forming on his lips.

"What are you going on about, Brock," she growled, stating the question instead of asking it.

"I'm just saying, I understand how you think it's derogatory towards women and all, but honestly, it really isn't that big of a deal. People do it all the time. I'm thinking the reason you're just so peeved is because you're a bit, say, insecure?"

Misty's glare suddenly sharpened.

"I mean, there's no reason to be insecure!" Brock brought up hastily at the sharpened glare. "I'm just saying you seem to be throwing this tantrum to cover up the fact you don't want to display yourself in this fashion, to say, a certain...peer that you have...an affinity for?"

"Oh, THAT is it-!" Misty lunged, but Giselle leaped in on the action and wrapped her arms around the girl's torso and pulled her back.

"Come on, Misty, settle down, you know very well this is _no _way a model should act." Giselle finally pulled away when Misty had settled, crossing her arms and frowning at her.

"But you heard what he said!" Misty countered.

"What did he say?"

"He just said that I-!"

"That you what?"

"You know what!"

"You know...that I...!"

"That you...?"

"Forget it." Misty facepalmed while Brock snickered childishly.

"Misty, all I was saying was that you might probably feel a little uncomfortable to model like that in front of us, Ash, I mean, since you've known us for so long. I didn't mean it in any other way," Brock said matter-of-factly.

"Sure you didn't," Misty sneered. "Anywho, isn't that obvious? It is going to be awkward as hell, of course I'm bloody embarrassed about it."

"Don't be. It's just one day, and then...you can forget about this. Forever. C'mon. Misty." Giselle looked her straight in the eye.

Misty sighed in exaggeration and fell back onto the couch, taxed from this emotional trauma.

"Good girl! You have graduated from the class of posture. Now let's get you a spa treatment."

-.-

"You're blind. Obviously, _green _is May's color."

"Listen, Mr. Broccoli Head, just because you're got a thing for green doesn't mean you have to dress up your girlfriend in it."

May could only slam her head against the wall as her so called team argued about her evening gown color. She then added in exasperation, "I'm not his girlfriend!"

"Oh sure, of course _that's _what you're worried about," Harley sneered. "Listen, _I'm _the stylist here, and I say you wear red!"

"Okay, how about this? We pick neither. I'll wear blue," May proposed, looking in the wardrobe of dresses Harley had brought in, bringing out a very pretty sky blue dress.

"Hmmm..." Harley scratched his chin thoughtfully.

"You know, it does bring out her eyes," Drew added meaningfully.

May rolled her eyes. _Boys. _

Before much else could be added, Paul and Gary walked in on the scene.

"What's up?" Drew turned to welcome them, but started laughing when he caught sight of Paul, who looked emotionally traumatized.

"Oh my god, Paul. How did you even get yourself into this mess?" He clutched at his sides, and even May had started giggling behind her hand.

"You don't want to know," he said in a dark voice, shaking his head slowly.

"So, why're you guys here anyway?" May asked.

"Oh yeah, we've kind of got some rather shocking, amusing, and bad news," Gary finally said, his expression a mix of said adjectives.

"Well?"

"So, Ash's pikachu has been stolen and is being used to threaten Ash into having their girl win."

"Ugh. This says Team Rocket all over it," May commented, making a face at the memories of Team Rocket.

"Jessie's gonna be in the pageant?" Drew brought up, seemingly interested.

"Probably. Why?"

"No reason," Gary answered for him hastily.

May's face scrunched up in realization. "You're all sick people," she muttered, shrugging on her coat and leaving the room.

"This is the problem with girls, man," Gary said sympathetically, patting him on the shoulder.

"Oh, shut up," he said, shrugging Gary off. "Jessie is seriously messed up, anyway."

Paul actually chuckled very slightly. "You might as well have a neon sign over your head claiming that you like the brunette girl."

"And if I do?" Drew challenged.

"Whoa, was that admittance I just heard? Good job!" Harley also patted the young coordinator on the shoulder. "Been trying to get him to do that for ages."

"Just ask her out, for Mew's sake..." Gary said, rolling his eyes.

"It's not that simple! And I don't feel like it anyways," the green-headed boy murmured, feeling his stomach lurch at the thought of them dating.

"Feel like it? You like her! And she likes you! That's all there is to it!" Harley complained absent-mindedly while reorganizing the dresses.

"She likes me?"

The entire gang scoffed. "You're joking, right. It's obvious."

"That's what everyone says about girls! 'Oh, it's obvious.' And then, they end up_ not_ liking you," Drew said in annoyance.

"Aww, does someone have some emotionally scarring childhood trauma with girls?" Gary made puppy eyes, which effectively disturbed everyone in the room.

"No, it's true. I was with Troublesome the other day and heard her and the brunette girl gossiping about it," Paul brought up, while everyone stared in awe at his extreme social involvement.

"And what'd she say?"

"She said she really likes you."

Drew sighed in exasperation as he put his head in his hands. "Girls are so complicated."

-.-

Ash was currently in a rather dangerous state of mood.

He had had his best friend kidnapped by some mysterious source (poor boy hadn't put two and two together and figured out it was Team Rocket yet), and he had the job of a judge for a dumb beauty pageant that his best friend and maybe someone he liked was participating in, and apparently they had to model in bikinis. Just great.

The note the person had left had told him to meet him in some shady alley. Bad idea to go alone, but Ash didn't care. He just wanted his pokemon back.

He turned around and suddenly came face to face with a woman with a hair full of long blonde hair, startling him enough to back up a few feet.

"So twerp-I mean, kid, you're judging. For this, ah, pageant." The woman ran a hand through the silky blonde hair. Was it just Ash, or did he see a random streak of reddish pink in there?

"Yeah..." Ash said, consciously backing up as the girl advanced.

"As long as I win, I won't let anything happen to your precious little pikachu. Got it? It's simple as that."

Ash felt his temperature boil but replied calmly, "You don't think this is a dirty way to go about it? You know, I really don't care for this pageant. I would've let you win if you'd just asked."

"Hah, of course you would've. I know you like the other twerp, I mean, ahm, the redhead girl."

"Wait, what?" Realization dawned upon Ash. "Oh my-no! I wouldn't make her win just because I like her! _If _I liked her. Hey, how do you even know about her?"

Ash started seeing more pinkish red on her head. "Oh! That..." The woman began to grow fidgety. "Look, I better see the tide turning in my favor. Or else. Meet me here next time and you can have your friend back," she said, somehow readjusting her wig, gracefully walking off, leaving Ash standing there, too stunned to move.

"There goes five minutes of my life I will never get back," he said in frustration, also cursing himself for leaving all his other pokemon at the lab. He was just chock full of dumb ideas, it really wasn't his fault.

-.-

"You know Zoey, this is really isn't what I had in mind when you said something about a spa treatment."

"Agreed."

Misty and Dawn were both seated in cheap leather chairs in the washroom of Oak's lab, while their respective stylists stood behind them with an evil gleam in their eyes.

"Unless you can cough up some money for a real spa treatment, this will have to do, you know," Giselle said in her almost prissy tone, taking out the ponytail Misty's hair was always in.

The two stylists got to work.

"I wonder where May's going to get all pampered and pretty," Dawn wondered absent-mindedly as Zoey combed in strangely colored hair solutions into her already silky hair.

"Hah, I bet I kn-ow! Ow, ow, Giselle!" Misty yelped as soon as the comb touched her hair.

Giselle only scrunched her face, pulling harder. "Not my fault you don't feel the need to brush your hair every morning."

Misty looked rather offended. "I will have you know I brush my hair everyday!"

Giselle snorted. "Yeah, yeah, tell it to the judge. Literally."

Misty made sure to give her signature stop-shipping-Ash-and-I glare before saying, "Anyway, Dawn, about your question, I think May mentioned something about Drew covering the expenses of her spa treatment. Figures, right?"

"Figures indeed. They should go out already."

"I know, right?" Giselle, Misty, and Zoey said simultaneously.

They laughed before settling back into an idle chatter while the infamous facials began.

The girls didn't look much different afterwards but they radiated pureness somehow, and that was a place to start. They made their way back to the main living space, where they found the boys huddled over the table eating Chinese takeout.

Giselle shook her head and muttered, "Don't you all have, I don't know, lives to tend to?"

Brock smirked widely. "Hey, if you suffer, we all suffer. We're friends after all."

Giselle and Zoey looked at their beauty pageant models pointedly.

Misty rolled her eyes but smiled. "It's true! We're all like one big happy family."

Most nodded in approval while Paul looked mildly disgusted.

"Pass me the ramen, Ash," Misty said in exhaustion as she took a seat next to the raven-haired boy.

The boy was happy to oblige but Brock cut in. "Uh, what do you think you're doing, Misty? Your food is over there on that table."

"Let me guess. Salad," Misty said crossly.

"You know me too well," Brock retorted, wiping away a fake tear.

The boys laughed and Ash slung his arm around Misty's shoulder. "It's only for a week. After that, you can pig out again. Just like you usually do," he said, earning a kick in the leg from Misty. Painful, but worth it.

Meanwhile across the table, Drew coughed loudly. "Dropping some bold moves there, Ash," he said, his gaze burning a hole through the arm slung around Misty.

Misty flamed red at the attention and countered with a testy comeback while Ash, seemingly not knowing what to do retreated awkwardly and looked away.

"Drew, don't you have a girl to ask out?" Gary questioned, saving the duo from a humiliation round from the gang.

"Yeah, yeah, shut up," he said, slurping up the last of his noodles.

"Where is she, anyway?" Misty questioned, scanning the room. No brunettes.

"Huh, dunno. She left earlier because of something. I'll go check."

Then, the topic turned to Paul.

"So, Paul, how are you putting up with this whole thing?" Brock questioned, cracking open a fortune cookie.

Paul only glared at him, which said enough.

"Ah," Brock said in understanding.

Everyone looked at him.

"What? His expressions do convey a lot of meaning, you know," Brock countered, crunching loudly on the cookie.

In Ash and Drew's absence, Gary decided to select someone new to tease.

"I'm gonna feel sorry for the sorry sap that ends up having to go on a date with you," Gary joked.

"Witty," Paul commented, acting unfazed by the comment.

"I feel sorry for Paul, actually. We have quite the crazed fangirls entering this year for him, you know," Misty commented.

Dawn laughed suddenly, saying, "If I win, I'll relieve you of the trouble, Paul."

He rolled his eyes before murmuring, "Thanks."

"Is this another connection I see forming? God, you guys better stop, starting to feel left out here," Gary commented.

"Welcome to my life," Brock said in exasperation, crumpling up the paper from his fortune cookie.

-.-

Drew has been stopped in his search for May upon finding quite the mysterious note outside the door.

_Hello, Ash._

_We know who has Pikachu, and well, how to get him back as well. We're not going to bribe you, just be easy on our contestant, okay? We just want to improve her self esteem in this...aspect of herself. We're counting on you. _

_Don't make those times in Unova go to waste, okay?_

_It will be greatly appreciated for Iris in the long run._

_- Cilan & Bianca_

* * *

__**Sooo. It's an update. From me. Yeah. I know. Um. I'm. Uh. Really sorry. Enjoy, though! :D**


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